The special concert is a tribute to Jim Swiggart, Opera in the Ozarks’ longtime General Director who is now General Director Emeritus.

Metropolitan Opera artist Latonia Moore is headlining the show along with American tenor Joel Burcham. Both are Opera in the Ozarks alumni.

The Gala Concert will be held on Sunday, July 13, at 4 p.m. at Bentonville’s Arend Arts Center (1901 S.E. J Street). There is a silent auction scheduled for 3 p.m. with a reception following the concert. Tickets are $27, on sale now at opera.org.

Over its 64-year history, Opera in the Ozarks has trained many emerging music and opera professionals who have gone on to have successful careers on world stages. Swiggart himself was a student-artist at Opera in the Ozarks in the 1950s and has had a distinguished career in music education. With music degrees from Oklahoma City University and Wichita State University and doctoral work at Oklahoma University, he was a longtime band director in and around Oklahoma City while serving for 25 years as Opera in the Ozarks’ General Director (1988 to 2013).

“Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point is full of wonderful memories for me after 39 years of performing, conducting and guiding talented singers and musicians to higher levels of performance,” Swiggart has said. “My life has been enriched to be part of this program and to share it with my wife, Janice. It has been a shared project.”

The Gala Concert features Moore and Burcham in scenes and arias from Bizet’s Carmen, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Massenet’s Hérodiade and Tchaikovsky’s Eugen Oneginaccompanied by the Opera in the Ozarks Orchestra. The entire Opera in the Ozarks’ company comes together as the chorus for extended excerpts from Mascagni’s passionate Cavalleria rusticana. And, the majestic final scene from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg has been adapted as a tribute to Swiggart.

The Gala Concert is part of Opera in the Ozarks’ 2014 Season, which runs through July 18 and includes 24 fully staged productions at both Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony in Eureka Springs and Arend Arts Center in Bentonville.

For tickets and season schedule information, visit www.opera.org or call (479) 253-8595.

Opera in the Ozarks, a non-profit organization, has been the training ground for serious young artists for 64 years. Singers are selected annually from national auditions. Over the years, Opera in the Ozarks has launched the careers of many talented singers who have gone on to perform in premier opera houses around the world.